Chapter 4

Seeing the northern lights in Norway was a wish I'd made for myself when I was twenty.

In seven years, we had gone to the airport three times and canceled three times.

The first time, Sienna was in a terrible car accident while shooting out in the wilderness, and he flew out overnight to stay by her side. The second time, her company was facing a hostile takeover, and he canceled his ticket to help her put out the fire. The third time, we were already sitting at the gate when he got a call. Sienna had a fever, and he couldn't leave her alone.

Every time, Julian held me and said, "Nora, I'll make it up to you next time. I promise."

I waited seven years. That "next time" never came.

And now, with an hour left before my solo flight to Norway started boarding, I had just checked my bag when I looked up and saw Julian and Sienna.

Sienna was wearing an eye-catching white down jacket, and Julian was bent over, fixing her scarf for her. She waved two boarding passes, smiling brightly. "Back in college we said we'd go to Iceland together. I can't believe it took this many years."

Julian ruffled her hair, his voice so gentle he sounded like a different person. "This time I won't break my promise."

At that exact moment, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

Work's sending me on a last-minute business trip. I'll be gone a few days.

Stay home and think about what you've done. We'll talk when I get back.

Through the crowd, I watched Julian send the message and then take Sienna's luggage from her.

I couldn't stop a mocking little smile.

The boarding announcement began. I put away my phone and turned toward my gate.

But just as I was about to step into the jet bridge, I heard hurried footsteps behind me.

"Nora!"

I stopped.

Julian pushed through the crowd and strode up to me. His eyes fell on the suitcase at my feet, and his face darkened at once.

"You actually followed me to the airport?" He laughed coldly, as if he'd caught me red-handed. "Last night you put on that whole hemorrhage act over the phone, and today you're perfectly fine, dragging a suitcase around and stalking me. Nora, don't you think you're ridiculous?"

I looked at him quietly.

I was wearing a loose black cashmere coat, its belt tied loosely, just enough to hide the flat, hollow stomach the miscarriage had left me with.

My pale face, the hand that still trembled slightly on the handle of my suitcase. He didn't see any of it.

All he saw was me "ruining" things for him and Sienna yet again.

Sienna walked over too and sighed with exaggerated helplessness. "Nora, I know you care about Julian. But if you wanted to come, you could have just said so. Why gamble with your health to make a point? You're still pregnant, after all. Long flights are dangerous."

Julian looked at me with open disgust. "I said it was a business trip on purpose, so you wouldn't overthink it. And instead, you checked my itinerary and chased me all the way here." He reached out to take my suitcase by force. "Go home. Now. Stop embarrassing yourself in public."

I turned aside, out of his reach.

"No, thanks." My voice was quiet, but it didn't give an inch.

Julian's hand froze in midair. His face went hard and cold.

"Nora, enough. Lying about a miscarriage, faking being sick, following me, and now playing the victim. Do you think that if you keep staring at me and Sienna, nobody will notice how boring your own life is?"

Every word lined up exactly with what he'd said to me on the phone the night before.

I used to naively believe that if he would just look at me with his own eyes, he would know I wasn't lying.

I was wrong.

When someone has already convicted you, even your breathing sounds like an excuse.

The boarding announcement came again, more urgent.

Sienna tugged at Julian's sleeve and said softly, "Julian, why don't you take Nora home first? We can see the northern lights some other time."

The more "understanding" she was, the more certain Julian became that I was the one being unreasonable.

"Look at Sienna, and then look at yourself. She's thinking about you at every turn, and you're trying to ruin a trip she's been waiting seven years for." He glanced at his watch and spoke as if he were issuing a final warning. "Go home. Now. And stop joking about the baby. Keep pulling stunts like this, and when something really does happen, no one will believe you."

Suddenly it all seemed so absurd that I actually laughed.

Julian didn't understand the laugh.

He put a protective arm around Sienna and turned toward the gate on the other side.

Sienna looked back at me through the crowd, and the corner of her mouth lifted in a smile so faint it was almost invisible.

They disappeared into the crowd.

Just like every time before, as long as Sienna needed him, Julian was sure I would always stay right where I was and wait for him.

But this time, I didn't wait.

I took out my phone, held down the power button, and walked into the jet bridge that was mine.

————

The northern lights in Iceland arrived right on schedule. Ribbons of green light spread across the night sky like a lavish dream.

Sienna ran out of the cabin, thrilled, tipping her face up. Her voice trembled in the icy wind. "Julian, it's just the two of us now. What I said that night on the group call... would you answer me one more time?"

In the past, all she had to do was show a little vulnerability, and Julian couldn't bring himself to refuse her.

But this time, he was distracted, staring at his phone.

Every message he'd sent had vanished into silence.

I hadn't asked where he was. I hadn't cried or made a scene.

That deathly quiet filled Julian with a panic he had never felt before. He stepped away and called the building's management office, asking the manager to go up and check on the apartment.

Ten minutes later, the manager called back. "Sir, there's no one home. But... there's a signed agreement on the dining table, and a lawyer's business card next to it."